The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon and Amy Finally Have Sex! These Are the Episode’s Best Moments

If Amy’s reaction to sex was any indication, The Big Bang Theory finally lived up to its name! The cat (or rather, soft kitty) has been out of the bag for weeks that this was finally going to be the night that Sheldon and Amy had sex, but did it live up to the hype? Before we go any further, we are warning you now—if you don’t want to know the specific details of this episode—and what taking their relationship to the next level will mean for Shamy moving forward—then stop reading until you’ve watched the episode.

OK, let’s begin. In a TV series a long time ago, in an apartment nestled in Pasadena, were two roommates who excelled in brain power but lacked in social skills. While it took a while, one (Leonard) found a committed relationship easier to come by than the other (Sheldon)—but that didn’t mean he was incapable of fully committing in his own way. It just had to be in its own time, at its own pace, and the payoff had to be extraordinary, at least for viewers who had every right to believe this day would never come.

And boy, did it. If you’ve already watched tonight’s episode, I’d like to think you’re reading this while playing back your DVR to watch it again. Executive producer Steve Molaro has already watched it in full six times (and that was only as of Tuesday morning), and I’ve seen it three times so far. The episode succeeds on every level and should go down in Big Bang history as one of the best—if not the best—episode of the series.

The entire episode was best moment after best moment, but several stood out for absolute perfection. So what were they? And what was the only downside of the episode? Let’s break it all down!

Best: The Opening Credits: You don’t have to be a Star Wars fan to appreciate the genius of John Williams’ score or the simplicity of the opening graphics to applaud how the producers started this episode. It gave it that extra pizzazz—or as Carrie Bradshaw would say, the zsa zsa zsu.

Best: Sheldon’s Moment of Prayer: In the real world, the guys would have already bought their tickets to see Star Wars months ago, but for the sake of this episode, they can only do so mere days before the premiere. Of course, just like that time they tried to buy tickets to Comic-Con, websites have crashed and no one can get through. That is, unless you believe in the power of prayer. “Alright, this goes against everything I stand for, but desperate times call for desperate measures,” announces Sheldon. With that, Jim Parsons drops to his knees, and in only a way he can deliver, utters the following: “Lord! This is Sheldon Cooper. You’re good friends with my mom. I know I’ve spent my life denying that you exist [then the guys announce they got through and got the tickets]…and I will continue to do so!”

Best: Bob Newhart as Obi-Wan: Truly, does this even need an explanation? No. But whoever wrote the line where Arthur says to Sheldon, “And the one time you were afraid…you needed me for a nightlight” in response to his glowing silhouette was absolute perfection.

Best: Bernadette! Bernadette! Bernadette! When a show has been on the air as long as Big Bang has, the writers are provided the luxury of taking common themes and turning them on their head. We’ll call it the “What If?” scenarios. Friends did it often in flashback scenes, and the Big Bang producers were wise to call upon it in tonight’s episode when Bernadette and Penny played on Sheldon’s OCD with his three-knock habit. And then, there was this gem after Sheldon finally entered Penny’s apartment and declared: “For future reference, if I want to see Mean Girls, I’ll stream it on Netflix.”

Best: Amy’s Birthday Options: Sheldon tells Penny and Bernadette the three options for Amy’s birthday gift, and though we had seen this in the promos already, seeing Penny break her wine glass in shock over option #3 (coitus) captured the reaction all of us had when we heard about this episode. (By the way, in case you’re curious how the producers got the glass to break like that, and where the idea came from, check back tomorrow for secrets behind the scenes from “The Opening Night Excitation.”)

Best: Wild Thang: As Penny cleans up the broken glass, she tries to recap what she just heard come out of Sheldon’s mouth. “OK, so we have harp thing, sheep thing,” and then Bernadette goes in for the win and deadpans, “Wild thing!” Moments later, Sheldon declares coitus the winner with the following gem: “It’s decided. Amy’s birthday present will be my genitals.”

Best: Shut Your Damn Mouth! Penny and Bernadette take Amy out for an early birthday celebration and tell her they want her to be prepared for any surprises Sheldon might have in store for the big night. When Bernadette sheepishly says, “We don’t want to spoil anything, but you should know Sheldon said he’s ready to be physical,” Mayim Bialik gives possibly the funniest line reading of her entire career when she blurts out, “You shut your damn mouth!” If you look closely, even Kaley Cuoco couldn’t quite hold it together. And then, as Amy tries to process the most exciting development since news of a Fuller House spin-off was announced, she realizes it doesn’t take long to decide what to do next: “I don’t know what to say! [Pause] I do know what to say! Let’s get me waxed!”

Best: Arthur as the Voice of Reason: As clever as Hollywood likes to be when it comes to story lines about losing one’s virginity, the Big Bang writers were in an extremely delicate situation with Shamy. You can’t cheapen the moment with sex joke after sex joke, as that would be a disservice to the characters. On the other hand, it’s not a Hallmark channel movie or an ’80s after-school special. So having Arthur (Bob Newhart) come back as the voice of reason to help Sheldon walk through his fears about sexual intercourse for the first time was the perfect balance of heart and humor. Arthur telling Sheldon that “if you’re with the right person, it will be OK,” is probably more convincing and meaningful than most health ed teachers curriculum.

Best: Amy Gets Into Position: Although I’m not clear why Sheldon couldn’t have Amy over to his place (it is her birthday after all—why should she go to the trouble of getting her place all done up in mood lighting?), how hilarious was it to see Amy spread out over the couch to greet Sheldon as he walked in? Of course, that’s not how it happened (it never is), as she forgot to take the chain off the door, forcing her to get up. But once she lets Sheldon in and they talk about their plan for the evening, Amy tells him, “I’m not really hungry. I thought we could do presents first.” Not knowing that she knows, Sheldon says, “I should probably tell you something about this gift,” before Amy eventually reveals that she knows. The only criticism you’ll get from me in the episode was that I would have liked to have seen Amy play along a little longer, allowing Sheldon to be the one to tell her his plan.__

Best: The Big Moment Is Here! Mayim Bialik told us a few weeks ago that the actual moment was very sweet, and she couldn’t have been more accurate when describing the scene. Instead of going for jokes, the writers honored the characters by vocalizing their insecurities and in turn, hit all the right notes.

Amy: “I’ve been waiting for this for so long, I’ve built it up in my head. I don’t know what to expect.”

Sheldon: “Neither do I. But we can find out together.”Best: Leonard, Wolowitz and Raj Have Their Own Sexual Awakening: While Shamy’s having “The Talk,” the guys are basically replicating the conversation over their nervousness about seeing The Force Awakens. In an episode that ran the risk of alienating anyone not named Sheldon or Amy, the writers handed out Christmas gifts to everyone with their genius parallel of the big moment playing out in a bedroom not far away.

Best: The Big Reveal: Sheldon likes sex! Amy’s ravaged! This is a yearly event! If you guys weren’t already losing your mind over Shamy’s post-coital moment, then hearing that they actually enjoyed it and planned on doing it again surely must have. Then there was the guys’ reaction to Star Wars that shockingly might have been funnier than what we just witnessed with Shamy. Raj for the win with this: “I don’t think I can walk right now.”

Best: Bob Newhart, Again: The sly smile that crept across Newhart’s face when Arthur asked Sheldon how “it went” was the perfect way to bookmark the end of the episode. But, just in case you’re worried that Shamy having sex was all just a dream, fear not: EP Steve Molaro confirmed to us that it did happen. Stay tuned for more coverage tomorrow, when Molaro reveals all about the episode and talks about what’s to come: A Big Bang Theory baby, perhaps?!

__Well, tell us: Was tonight’s episode everything you hoped for and more?